


Les Patineurs

by Ericine



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Emony Dax - Freeform, F/F, Female Friendship, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Holodecks/Holosuites, Ice Skating, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Winter, either platonic or romantic you pick
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 01:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17091284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ericine/pseuds/Ericine
Summary: After weeks of relaxing, warm, spa adventures, Jadzia suggests a cooler holodeck adventure. Literally.For sophiegaladheon on Tumblr for Star Trek Secret Santa.





	Les Patineurs

**Author's Note:**

> This can be read as romantic or platonic--both readings are possible! And, if you care for it, it very lightly references [Objects at Unrest](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13080942), but it's not by any means required reading.
> 
> And for my Secret Santa recipient, who requested (among other things) "Kira and Dax's holosuite adventures." Enjoy! <3

“Okay, so that’s about it!” Jadzia says brightly. “Are there any questions?”

Nerys blinks at her over her glass of mulled wine. “So many.” Jadzia just grins that grin of hers and makes a sweeping motion in front of her. She’s always way too enthusiastic for this kind of thing. “Like, if this is part of your plan to get me to relax, why does it sound so complicated? What is relaxing about fighting to balance on a surface with so little friction? How did you do this kind of thing before they invented holodeck safeties—“

“—holodecks. Before they invented holodecks,” Jadzia corrects her, giggling.

“How do you think I can learn it so fast? If it’s so cold, why are the outfits we’re supposed to wear so small? And,” she says, giving her drink a little push, “why is this wine so warm, sweet, and deliciously spicy?”

“The answer to the last one is it’s the spirit of the thing,” says Jadzia. “As for the rest of your answers—“ She stands up and holds out her hand. “—our holodeck appointment begins soon, and  _ all will be revealed _ .”

Nerys rises, rolling her eyes, but she does feel a little warm inside. She felt that way even before she’d had the wine.

* * *

The ice skating rink Jadzia’s program produces is beautiful, Nerys has to admit. From Jadzia’s descriptions, she’d pictured a circular pool of ice. But this doesn’t have any discernible borders, as far as she can tell. It looks like a lake of some kind, with lights hanging from the plant growth around it, kind of like the lighting that appears in the romantic Earth holoprograms that the Starfleet crew oddly seem to prefer as a collective, the ones that always take place during the same 20-year period of Earth history. The place doesn’t  _ feel _ empty, but she can’t see anyone else around. The cold nips, but it doesn’t bite (Nerys figures it probably should).

Jadzia is wearing a ridiculously ornate dress of teal - long-sleeved, boat necked, A-line. It’s trimmed at the cuffs and skirt with some kind of white fluffy material. The rest of it has a glowy, warm look to it, even though it’s the same kind of form-fitting as their uniforms. She’s wearing tights, some kind of shimmery silver. Her skates match.

Nerys had immediately refused to wear such a thing. How was she supposed to slide around on  _ frozen water _ with a fluffy skirt flapping around her legs?

They’d settled on a jumpsuit, much like the ones the Starfleet staff wear daily: shimmery black, the same cut as Jadzia’s skating outfit except with pants instead of a skirt. It has one red sleeve, and Jadzia insists on the diagonal silver-and-red flower design across the chest.

Then, Nerys adds a red scarf (she really is wary of the cold), and Jadzia laughs, but Nerys points out that probably the white fluffy stuff on her outfit serves a similar purpose.

Jadzia just grins That Grin and tells Nerys she looks beautiful.

Despite the natural look of everything, there are some guardrails where they’re standing, and Nerys tentatively steps out onto the ice, gripping the bar.

“Okay?” asks Jadzia, who has sailed out into the middle of the ice pool and is twirling around on one foot, leg extended to her side.

Nerys rolls her eyes. “I’m fine, showoff.”

Jadzia ends the spin with her arms outstretched. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I was starting to like the hot spring and sauna combination we were doing before,” Nerys says. That had felt strange, to sit there and  _ do nothing _ . But it’s so strange to slide her feet along and feel pure smoothness. “There was sitting.” She turns to the side so only one hand is gripping the railing and shuffles along, releasing her hand for small bits of time, letting it hover over the railing.

“How’s it going?” asks Jadzia, skating next to her. “I know it feels weird, but you do get the hang of it eventually.”

Nerys is letting her hand hover for longer periods of time now. “It’s just mind-blowing that Emony had time to skate, along with everything else she was doing. I guess the gymnastics helped, though?” she asks, and it’s a wide opening for Jadzia to show off, but that’s also why Nerys puts it out there: Jadzia immediately skates back out into the middle of the ice and takes off, floating into the air and spinning around twice before landing on one leg with a flourish.

(It’s nice to see her like this.)

“It did, a little,” Jadzia laughs. “You’re right, though. There was no way I--Emony--could train for gymnastics and do this at the same time—like, even if she’d gotten injured, it wouldn’t have been too bad of a fix, I guess, back then. But there was just so much training. But after I’d retired, there were a lot of things to do, suddenly, and I hadn’t had time to do them—or even let myself think about doing them—before. It took me a while to get out of thinking about only one thing, but once I’d gotten used to it—oh wow, you’re doing great!”

Nerys hasn’t touched the railing in a while. She’s been hoping that Jadzia wouldn’t say anything, because she’s worried that she’s going to slip.

But she doesn’t.

Still, she feels the shock ripple through her. “Yeah, keep talking.”

Nerys learns that Emony’s career had ended a little prematurely but not too much. She had been sent to a planet to rehabilitate, and while she was there, she’d met a very interesting group of people. The person who had taught her to skate—really skate—was an Andorian bartender and surprisingly not into skating at all. “She’d said it had looked like Emony’s kind of thing.”

“She was right,” Nerys suggests.

Jadzia beams. “She was.”

Nerys thinks about bravery for a moment. That she herself is brave is not something that she really thinks about—she figures she’s as brave as any Bajoran in her position would be, a product of her environment.

But this is a different kind of bravery, coming out here with Jadzia and doing things she’s not good at every several days or so. Maybe that’s not being brave. It’s just being willingly uncomfortable. It’s something that shouldn’t be uncomfortable but is, at least here.

“I think,” she says slowly, “that I can let go now, but maybe I need you to try—“ Prophets, she’s not one hundred percent sure how this would work, because two people out in the middle of the ice seems like any attempt to help one who was falling would just send the other person tumbling after her, but Jadzia has a weird knack for being good at those kinds of things, on account of her (well, Dax) being around for such a long time. “—maybe try and help me but don’t hold on unless I really need you to?” She thinks about them holding hands for a moment and then pictures herself falling over and taking her tumbling down with her.

“Sure,” says Jadzia, and Nerys lets go.

She figures they look funny—Jadzia who basically looks like she’s been walking on ice her whole life and Nerys who is overly cautious, both arms stretched out (but Jadzia has kept her promise and is keeping her distance). “Sorry I’m so slow.”

“Is it okay?” asks Jadzia. Nerys is a little surprised to hear the worry in her voice. Without thinking, she reaches out and takes her hand. “Yeah, it’s fun, really! I feel kind of like a bird. It’s different but not—you know.” She flaps her free “wing” around a little, and something in Jadzia’s look of delight makes her look down at the ice in front of her. “I really am having fun.” And she is. Also, even though she’s aware that her feet are kind of cold and kind of sore, she’s feeling like she’s actually getting the hang of this ice skating thing (but nothing too crazy—she’s getting used to shuffling along on the skates. “It’s beautiful here, Jadzia. Thank you.”

And just like that, it begins to snow.

Nerys laughs. “You did that on purpose.”

“I did no such thing!” Jadzia protests. “It’s a randomized event in the program! It was fate that it happened right now.”

Nerys likes that. She does believe in fate, after all.

They decide to skate in the snow for a while—it’s beautiful, especially with the lights and everything. But it does get a little too flurried for Nerys’ taste (she admits that she’s worried about the snow melting on her costume, even if it is just holographic snow). That kind of thing is just  _ impractical _ .

And that’s how they end up in Nerys’ quarters (they’re bigger), drinking hot (spiced) chocolate in the same outfits (replicated, of course—Nerys actually kind of likes her outfit). Hot drinks, Jadzia informs her, are a very important part of snow-season sports.

“Verdict?” prompts Jadzia, after they sit in the warm, slow comfort for a while, the sweet spice of the drink warming and tickling Nerys’ throat.

Nerys smiles into her drink. “Not sure. I think we’ll have to do it again.”


End file.
